A major decline in travel by Greeks, both to popular destinations
abroad and domestically, was recorded in the Christmas-New Year holiday
season this year, according to travel bureau representatives.

The reduction in holiday travel mainly concerns the middle incomes,
which are traditionally the staple clientele of travel bureaus, which
attribute the decline chiefly to the economic crisis, according to
representatives of Athens-based travel offices.

Organised trips to European countries, in particular, fell by 45-50
percent over the holidays, while domestic tourism dropped by 25
percent, Christoforos Mouzakis, director of organised trips to European
destinations at a major travel agency in Athens, told ANA-MPA.

He said that the 400, 500 and 700 euros travel package visitors to
central European destinations -- mainly civil servants and public
sector employees, was the category worst hit, followed by young couples
and families, indicating that the cause was the economic crisis.

Conversely, however, the more expensive packages for destinations
abroad, such as the US, were not affected, as such destinations have a
limited number of customers to begin with and also attract higher
income travelers.

Mouzakis further noted that most of the travelers booked their trips at
the last minute, waiting first for the special discount packages to be
announced by the travel bureaus.

Another Athens-based travel bureau director for ticket and hotel
booking, Roula Krezia, told ANA-MPA that a slump was recorded over the
holidays in airline ticket bookings for such destinations as Prague,
Vienna and Budapest which, she noted, are both inexpensive destinations
and the local hotels were offering reduced prices.

Krezia further noted that travelers over the holidays generally avoided
organised trips abroad and opted instead for individual bookings,
seeking inexpensive solutions over the internet. Indeed, she added, a
slump was also recorded in the most popular domestic destinations, such
as Pilion and the Zagorochoria, while the destinations closer to
Athens, such as Nafplio and Loutraki, fared a bit better.

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